Family
by NovelistServant
Summary: A story of how one man, separated from the world and for almost half a century, will now try to gain back what he has lost. Through trial and error, through roller-coasters of emotion, through it all, two lovers will find each other again, even if not in the best conditions. Rated as such for sensitive topics.
1. Up and Down

Robert stacked his papers neatly and left the room. The hospital-hallway was crowded and loud, opposite of the temporary classroom. One of the most boring sessions the young man had ever experienced in his life, but after all the excitement that's ripped through his soul and mind recently, he needed some boredom in his life.

He ruffled the neck of his white coat to try to get some air on his hot skin. He allowed his mind to fall into a gaze, thinking of a cold drink of lemonade, or would coffee be better? Perhaps that's why he didn't see the other medical student walking, arms full of papers, syringes, and bandages.

They collided right into each other, paper flying everywhere and a few rushing doctors trying to get to their patients gave a quick wince before rushing off; they could take care of it themselves.

The young lady scurried to try to collect herself and her items, avoiding dropping everything, but she might as well have; the once organised clutter in her arms was now an unholy mess. When Robert looked up and saw the distress he had created, his soul was swamped with guilt and he carefully picked up syringes (which thank God they didn't shatter) and papers, muttering and blubbering his apologies.

"Oh! Madam, I… I am s-so so sorry! Please f-forgive me, I-I never intended…"

"No, no, it's alright, I shouldn't have… no, please, let me…"

"Oh, Heavens to Betsy! I'm truly v-very sorry, madam!"

"Be careful, that's sharp! Really, it's okay. Are you hurt?"

Robert looked up at the young lady and saw baby-blue eyes as bright as her spirit. Her ruby-red lips and curled brown hair complimented her beautiful clean skin and strong, yet soft, hands. Robert stared, and was oblivious to her own staring. His hair was slick back like he was still in high school and his eyes were a sparkling hazel with flare trapped inside, just waiting to be cracked open. He even had a small, very neat, mustache that the aroused young lady wanted to bite. She mentally slapped herself for that last thought and left her cheeks blush.

She stood up and flicked through her papers for any that her alien to her to hang back to the poor colleague. She did find some and handed it down to the student, who was on one knee in front of her with a few of her things.

"I believe these are yours, sir."

Robert blinked and tried to get his brilliant mind to work. "Thank you, madam." He took the papers back and gently handed some syringes and a few of her papers. "Here, I must apologise once more for my carelessness."

"Oh, again, it's quite alright." The woman replied and shifted the items in her arms. "I must get back to work."

She walked by him and Robert turn and watched her go. Unable to restrain himself, knowing he'd regret it if he didn't do it, he called out to her.

"Excuse me, madam. What is your name?"

The woman paused and turned around to look back at the handsome young man. She smiled and called back,

"White. Diana White."

She turned back and hurried to get to her destination. Robert watched her go, her cute figure highlighted in her little white dress. He smiled and thought to himself what such a wonderful name she had.

"Diana. Diana. Yes, I like the sound of it."

* * *

The main room of the once-prison for monsters was occupied by the Missing Link, watching a nature documentary on global warming, and B.O.B., who was helping himself to some of Dr. Cockroach's garbage. One man's trash is another man's treasure, but today it wasn't even a cockroach's treasure.

The largest door opened and Susan walked in and collapsed on the couch. By the giant window, Butterfly-a-saurus flew into her room and gave a loud roar in hello, a hello returned by Link with a wave and a cheery question.

"How was it?"

"Oh, we had a great time!" Susan answered. "Mom and Dad say hello, wishing you guys the best. Mom asked if we were eating enough, Dad asked if you had tried football yet."

"Actually, yeah." Link remarked, his small watery eyes still locked to the T.V. "It's okay. I think hockey is way better!"

Ginormica rolled her eyes. "Of course you do." She glanced over at B.O.B. as he digested cans, old shoes, rotting food, and newspapers, all moldy and germ-infested on the table. "B.O.B., isn't that for Doc?" She said with a light wince.

B.O.B. looked up at his giant friend and said, "Oh, hey Susan! When did you get here?"

"B.O.B., isn't that supposed to be for Dr. Cockroach?" Susan restated slowly and patiently.

"What?" B.O.B. asked, genuinely confused (as always).

"The garbage."

"What garbage?"

"That garbage!" Susan strained, pointing at the table.

"Oh! Yeah, want some?" The jeleton offered, holding out an old soup can.

As a groan slipped pasted Susan's clenched teeth, the Missing Link incepted lazily. "Doc said he didn't want it."

Susan's frustrations died and he looked at the doctor's desk, at the farther end of the room and in front of a giant bookshelf, to find him hunched over holding his giant head over several papers, bottles of unlabeled liquids and things that sparked that littered the table. His face was hidden and his antennae seeped low, like they carried the weight of the world now.

"Really?"

Susan stood up and carefully walked closer to the cockroach. Usually bubbly, energized and full of enthusiasm, it was the first time Ginormica had seen her friend so depressed and silent., apart from mentioning that Halloween was dead to him, but that was just a mere frustration for a holiday. In the grand scheme of things something much more important than stolen candy was on Dr. Cockroach's intelligent mind. She can remember a time when he was there for her; she wanted to be there for him.

She sat down by the desk and spoke in a low voice to keep the other monsters out of the conversation. "Hey, Doc. Anything you want to talk about?"

"Like what?" Dr. Cockroach grunted on the wooden surface of his workspace.

Susan shrugged nervously and said slowly, "Well… you haven't eaten much and you just seem... low."

"I'm practically at the Earth's core, my dear." The scientist answered, glancing up at her with one huge eye. "But it is none of your concern, nor anyone else's."

Susan blinked, shocked and slightly hurt at the doctor's response, but her stare turned into a glare and she turned to the other two boys. Without warning, she picked Link up by a wrist and B.O.B. by his oozy dome.

"Alright you two, out." Ginormica said flatly as she carried the pair towards the door.

"What?!" Link yelled. "But I was just getting to the good part! That shark was just about to…"

"I'll buy you the DVD for Christmas." Susan snapped as the door automatically opened. She plopped the two down, turned around, and let the electric doors slam behind her.

Dr. Cockroach had kept an eye on the action, grateful that he was almost alone. It was most likely because she was a female monster, but Susan had always been more inclined to listen, even when others don't want to talk, and was a gentle giant. Yes, it was a nice change from nothing but males for almost fifty years.

"Alright, spill." Susan said patiently as she sat back down on the couch, her arms folded by the desk. "You know you can tell me if something's wrong."

"That I can, Susan." The mutant experiment gone-wrong replied, raising his big head up slightly. "I will give you that, but…"

There was a pause. Susan was patient and did not press forward. Dr. Cockroach laid back in his spinny-chair and rested his chin on a fist, making his lips pucker like a begging child, but his brow was down and his eyes were dull and in despair. He seemed to be planning ahead or doing some quick thinking, until he finally sighed and spilled.

"For nearly half a century, I had have been trying to escape this prison. Grant it, my attempts have lessen over the years, but tried as I may, I - obviously - never escaped. At the time, it was like pulling out my antennae or staying awake for days, waiting for something to happen. However, now…" Dr. Cockroach sighed again and looked at the glowing goop that decorated his workspace. "Now that I'm free, there's nothing to escape to."

Susan looked sadly at his friend with round blue eyes, trying to think of what to say, what to ask.

They may have known each other the shortest compared to the others, but they had a lot in common. Unlike someone who was born or made a certain way, or who never talked of how they felt, Dr. Cockroach and Ginormica both started as humans and had everything torn away by their own species. They both had family and friends lost by being thrown in prison as nothing less than innocent people. While Susan was blessed to get it all back, the doctor may have been too late.

"Did…" Susan breathed, hesitant to ask, but it clearly on his mind; he had to talk about it. "Did you have a family?"

Dr. Cockroach did not answer immediately. It was like he had shut down so he could think properly. Apart from his breathing and blinking, he did not move. Until…

"I had a wife." He muttered barely audible.

Susan's big heart cracked. A wife. She wasn't married, but Susan had a good idea of what Dr. Cockroach was feeling. All those years without contact or news… she can remember when she was first arrested by the government and how much she missed her now ex-fiance. Link would roll his eyes and B.O.B. would think he was supposed to miss Derek, too, but Dr. Cockroach was the only one that even tried to consult her. Now she knew why.

"You were married?" Susan said in a whisper as soft as silk, as if afraid the brilliant bug was now as fragile as glass. She rested her head on her arm and watched her friend closely with watery eyes.

"I was." Dr. Cockroach said in a low voice, emphasizing the "was" part with a hint of bitterness. He took in a deep breath with a heavy chest and went on. "She was beautiful, inside and out. She was kind and always stood up for people, even the likes of me. She was strong and always helping people, even if it meant neglecting herself."

His eyes were misty, like he could see her clear as day in front of him, sitting on the windowsill with her legs crossed, smiling and giggling.

Susan put her hand to her mouth sideways, a habit she had when upset, and whispered, more to herself than her mourning friend, "You miss her."

Dr. Cockroach blinked to see clearly, and by some miracle, no tears managed to shed.

"I do."

His voice cracked. Last time he had said those words his voice had dripped with joy, so very opposite of now.

Susan used the middle joint of her pointer finger to wipe from under her eye and she sniffed as quietly as she could. "I'm so sorry. Have you… have you found her?"

Dr. Cockroach moved his eyes to look at her, but the rest of his body remained still as a statue. He gave a look of a mixture of boredom and agitation; perhaps it was a desire that the question had not been brought up.

"No, but in all fairness, I haven't been looking."

Susan blinked and lifted her head up slightly to save her aching chin. "You haven't looked for her?" She asked gently. "Why not?"

"Susan, darling, just think about it for a moment." Dr. Cockroach said sharply. Susan was, again, surprised by his directal crude attitude towards her, but what he said next made her ponder if he was answering a question he had asked himself before many times.

"When I was… when my experiment went wrong, I was arrested before she came home; she had no idea I was going to such lengths to find a hidden passageway by the Cold War. Did the government tell your parents what they were doing to you?"

Susan tried to recall if anything had been said, whether by her parents or the general, if they had any clue what was happening to their daughter after her wedding day. Then she remembered asking General Monger during her orientation if her parents or Derek knew where she was and he said "No, and they never will."

"No, I guess not." She answered, not having a better answer.

"Well, the likelihood that she got any information whatsoever about my whereabouts is roughly six-million-four-hundred-twenty-five-thousand-thirty-two to one." Dr. Cockroach said in a dark tone. "She probably thought I had been kidnapped, or ran away, or suspected of being a communist and dragged off. All she knows is that I was gone. What am I to do? Just walk through the front door and say, 'Darling, I'm home! What's for dinner?'!"

The doctor got on his feet and started to pace along the window that bridged the T.V. and the mini-laboratory. Susan's eyes followed Dr. Cockroach as he paced and ranted, fifty years of hurt and guilt bobbled inside, finally coming out.

"If she's as smart as I think she is, she would have moved on and remarried, but if she's as stubborn and determined as I think she is, she would have been… alone… all these years… and what would she say if she saw me?! Would she even want to see me?! I'm not exactly the same man I was when I won 'most attractive' in the high-school yearbook! And what if she's not even… what if she's… what if she's gone?" He finished with his fire extinguished.

"But what if she's still out there?" Susan asked and lowered her head again, her eyes swimming with tears once more. "What if you're right and she never moved on? Doc, I know it's scary, but you have to try. Wouldn't you give anything to see her again, even for a minute?"

"Of course I would!" Dr. Cockroach answered with shot-upward antennae and such determination in his eyes it was like he was insulted Susan would suggest otherwise.

"And I know there's never been a question you've never found an answer for!" Susan said boldly, blinking her eyes dry and sitting up straight. "And there's never been a challenge you've ever walked away from! If you can build a supercomputer out of junk and save Earth from an alien-invasion by setting a ship to self-destruct with dance, you can find your wife!"

"Of course I can!" Dr. Cockroach said boldly, chest puffed out, hands made into fits by his side, and his head held high, until he collapsed back into his chair. "But should I?"

It was like a balloon had been popped with a single pin. Susan's encouraging smile dropped into a sincere look, and she took note that is antennae was droopy again and his eyes were missing their spark. No matter how unsure he was about it, Dr. Cockroach needed to find his wife. At least then he'll have answers.

Susan gave a small nod and said solemnly, "I think you should."

The doctor looked up at her with his lips slightly parted as Ginormica stood up and gestured to the door.

"Come on, I'll help you look."


	2. To The Past

A soft breeze danced on the New England land and in the local's hair. It played with Diana's curls and enhanced her beauty, like Mother Nature herself was on her side. With a fruit smoothie in her hand (Very Berry Surprise with extra whipped cream; Robert made sure to remember that it was her favorite) and a smile on her face as she walked along-side of him, everything about her was perfect. Everything.

Robert held a hot black coffee in his hand and his free hand twitched, wanting to grab Diana's but resisted. He instead opened the door of the hospital for her and let her walk ahead. Diana thanked him and they carried on down the hall, to the elevator, up a few floors, and to the break room where they would finish their lunch break. "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" played on the radio. Another colleague was sipping a coke as he read a newspaper that read on the front page, "Case Re-Argued Against Supreme Court".

The young couple sat down at another table and talked on some more until a little group of doctors and scientists joined the room, graced with a quick five-minute break. One man looked distraught and once he sat down, buried his head in his arms.

Robert glanced his way and asked his friends, "What happened to Wallace?"

"Rough shift." A sandy-haired older gentleman answered as he patted Wallace's back. "Little girl just six-years-old died of cancer. At least Heaven has gained a new angle."

"Tell that to her parents." Wallace growled in his arms, unwilling to move.

Diana nodded in understanding and said softly, "I truly am sorry, Dr. Wallace. I know you did everything you could."

There was no answer, but to change the subject, the other doctor reading the newspaper lowered his reading material and said to the room, "Check this ruckus out: 'President Eisenhower signs the Communist Control Act, outlawing Communist Party in the US.' Better watch yourself, Martin."

Another female doctor, blonde with thick hips and bubblegum between her white teeth, snarled and snapped back, "You're quicker to find yourself married than I a communist."

The whole room laughed as Dr. Goldman raised his newspaper and hid his reddening face.

"Well, whatever keeps this country into turning into a giant bunsen-burner…" Robert commented before sipping his coffee.

"They know better than to touch us." The older gentleman, Dr. Reagan, said wisely. "However, I heard of your plans to find a loophole for that fear."

Robert glanced up at the honorable doctor and could hear a few colleagues sneer. He held his head high and somehow managed to keep his composure.

"As a scientist I look into many different scenarios and possibilities." Dr. Jefferson stated matter-of-factly. "I believe it was Leonardo Da Vinci that once said that 'Knowing is not enough; we must apply.'"

"Quite right, good man." Dr. Reagan said heartedly as he stepped forward. "You miss all the shots you don't take, after all."

"Yes, doctor." Robert said proudly.

"Right, just don't get too… cocky about it…" Wallace muttered into his arms, but it was not missed.

The room exploded with laughter, all except for Dr. Reagan, who smiled at the joke, Robert, who was frowning silently in frustration, and Diana.

Diana glanced at her watch and saw that an hour was almost up. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have a set of twins who need my assistance."

Diana quickly left the room and avoided eye-contact with everyone, included Robert. His anger evaporated on the spot and he watched her walk away and off to work. He kept his emotions at bay just long enough to pick up his coffee and leave for his laboratory. There, he allowed a heavy sigh to escape his chest and he occupied his thought with, instead of love and romance, with science and biology.

Now, where did Test Subject 113 go...

* * *

Susan waved off Butterfly-a-saurus as she flew off to occupy herself; they would have a hard time functioning with Susan around, let alone their biggest friend. She had dropped the two off in the countryside, just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Susan came as she usually was, but Dr. Cockroach sat on her shoulder wearing a trenchcoat and matching fedora. He had the collar popped up and his hat was low.

"Are you sure you want me to just wait out here?" Susan asked.

"Boston is very crowded, and you struggle enough with Modesto, my dear." Dr. Cockroach answer, raising his hat to see her clearly. "Besides, it may not be the best idea to let all of Boston know monsters have arrived."

"Alright," Susan said, admitting defeat as she sat cross-legged on the soft grass with a small boom. "But I'll be right here, and stay in contact with me."

"Duly noted, Susan."

The doctor scurried down Susan's back and started off for the empty dirt road that would lead into the downtown area of the historic town. He looked back on his friend to see her give a quick thumbs-up and an encouraging grin. It did little to help his anxiety, but the thought was nice. He smiled and tipped his hat back to her, keeping it low for the journey ahead.

Boston was cool and party-clouded, but damp like it had rained all day yesterday. Though it looked like it might again, it did not. A chilly wind rippled through, so no one looked twice at the cloaked man with his hat low.

Dr. Cockroach did not stop to admire the antique shops and cafes that decorated the downtown area, but walked by quicky south for an older neighborhood. A few historical landmarks were sprinkled in here and there and it was clear that the state was trying to keep it's older architecture, which worked out great for The man who hadn't been home in fifty years.

Home… it was odd to call the city that, but it was. Slowly, the doctor could recall specific locations like where he liked to watch the candymaker weave taffy as a child, the road he nearly crashed into a tree with some friends in high-school, the very spot he was when he heard the war was over. It was all coming back to him after years of being buried under plans and science experiments.

He knew the way to his old college and could find his way home blindfolded if needed. He used to live in a condo in the heart of the city, but once married, they moved to a small house with plenty of room to grow just south of downtown. If he could recall correctly, it was white, with a tiny backyard, but lavish front yard. It had a great basement.

He walked down the street and remembered his old neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson were every old and had been married for years, and was quick to give advice to the newlyweds. There was one kid, Joshua, who always had his friends over during the summer and they'd explore the street on their bikes. He had a huge passion for food. A woman two houses down from theirs had a friend that never seemed to leave, and there were rumors the two were in a relationship, but the lides didn't care. Even Crazy Carl was decent enough. He always commented on her hair and asked him if he ironed his suit yet (he was more of a nice turtleneck and labcoat kind-of guy).

Dr. Cockroach noticed the house had been repainted. It looked nice, a creamy yellow, like the color of rich cheese or daffodils. He decided it suited the house well. Apart from that, and a porch that had been built by the front door, nothing had changed. There was a single car in the driveway, so the visitor crept up to a window to look into the living room.

At one point, it had two armchair, a couch, a coffee table, a place for their china, and a radio, but now it had just a couch, a leather beanbag-chair, and a T.V. stood by the window, one that was being carefully watched by a small child, no older than four. Her hair was in pigtails, and as she laughed at her cartoon, a young man with hair that went down to his shoulders and a young lady with a pixie-cut walked in and hugged their daughter.

Dr. Cockroach sighed and quickly sat out of sight between the wall of the house and a bush to keep the neighbors from thinking one of them was being robbed. He knew it. She was gone. With his knees close to his chin and his arms wrapped around them, his mind was incredibly slow.

A small sound from his coat-pocket caught his attention.

"Doc?" Susan's voice said softly. "How's it going? Any luck?"

The cockroach picked up his radio and held it to his head. "Not very well, my dear. I found my old home."

"And?"

He sighed. "She's not here. She's gone."

There was a pause. "Well, she might have moved. Don't give up just yet." Susan said to encourage his friend.

"No, no I won't." Dr. Cockroach said in a low voice and crawled out from behind the bush. "Where do you think we should look?"

"We can try the supercomputer back at headquarters." Susan suggested when Dr. Cockroach reached the sidewalk and got on his feet. "Guess we should have done that first… but think. Is there anyone there you could ask, or did she ever say she wanted to go somewhere, anywhere?"

Dr. Cockroach did think about it for a moment as he walked on. She always loved Boston and never really said she wanted to move. She had always wanted to see Hawaii, but they went there for their honeymoon.

"No, I can't… I can't think of anyone or any place to go to."

"Okay, well I'll call B and we'll head back and do some research." Susan replied. "We'll find her, Doc." She added

The doctor nodded but them remembered she couldn't see that. "I know." He said into the walkie and then pocketed it.

He probably should have walked faster as it started to rain, for poor Susan had no shelter or coat, but he was too lost in thought, lost in his own misery, to care.

* * *

Robert emerged from his little laboratory with singed clothes and blown-up hair as smoke poured out of the room. Diana poked her head out of a room to see him coughing his lungs clean and ran to him.

"Robert!" Diana put an arm over his shoulders and walked him down the hall to the break room. She used her other arm to open the door and asked, "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"Just a little short of breath, my dear." Robert replied heavily as Diana sat him down in a chair.

She bent her knees, put her stethoscope to her ears, and unbuttoned Robert's labcoat for him. His face felt very hot as she slipped her warm hands under his turtleneck sweater and listened to his heart. Robert wondered if it was beating faster than normal, aside the incident.

Diana listened carefully and counted heartbeats and seconds. With one hand touching his chest and the other used to listen to his heart, it didn't take long to be lost in thought once the danger of heart or lung failure had passed. His skin was warm and he felt strong. She had once read that the heartbeat of a significant other…

"So," Robert said as he cleared his throat. "How long do I have to live?"

Diana snapped back into reality with a laughter that was like the sound of an angel to Robert and she stood up straight and put her instrument back around her neck. "Well, if you eat the right foods and exercise frequently, you should have another fifty to seventy years left on Earth."

She walked to the sink and filled a paper cup with cold water. "Here." She said as she placed it in his hands gently. "Drink some water."

"Thank you." Robert did as told and held his cup of water one-handed and drank. He felt a little better having his throat wet and even more so when Diana sat in front of him.

"What happened to you?"

"Just a small bump in the road, Diana dear." Robert said calmly. "I was testing to see if…" He smacked his forehead in remembrance. "By Newton's apple! I almost forgot!"

Robert jumped up and ran out of the room and down the hall to his office. Diana was close behind and stood at the doorway wide-eyed as Robert looked around on his hands and knees for something.

"Come on, come on… HA!" Robert got up and turned to Diana with his hands cupped together. His eyes were huge and bright and his grin was huge, showing off crystal-clean teeth. "Look!"

Robert opened his hands and a cockroach, hardly bigger than his thumb, sat still in the palm of his left hand. It's antenna twitched and moved, proof that the little guy was still alive.

"He made it!" Robert yelled in excitement.

Diana smield at the scientist and smirked. "Was it a test to see if you could out-survive a cockroach?"

Robert laughed and said, "No, I wanted to see how much he could survive, just to see what this little guy was capable of. Unfortunately, the explosive was a little too powerful than I thought it would be."

Diana peered over Robert's shoulder and could see a tiny glass box destroyed and thrown against a wall by the explosion. He must have thought it would be enough to contain the experiment.

She smiled and was about to comment when a snarky comment reached her ears.

"Well, that really went out with a bang."

Diana turned to look down the hallway and Robert walked behind her. Dr. Goldman had come out to investigate and observed the smoke-marks on the ceiling and walls around Dr. Jefferson's door.

"In all honesty, Jefferson, do you really think a bunch of old bugs are the key to survival?" Goldman asked as he adjusted his reading glasses. "It's crazy, really. Let me tell you that the only thing that separates a man between life and death is intelligence and foolishness."

Robert opened his mouth to speak, but Diana reacted first. She took one of her rubber gloves from her dress pocket and used it to smack Goldson across the face. The slap was so powerful it echoed down the hall and left a burning red mark on Goldman's cheek. He straightened his glasses and stared with a hanging jaw at Diana, her hand raised to smack him again. Robert was completely flabbergasted.

"THAT'S for insulting the love of my life!" Diana yelled at Goldman, pointing at him so closely he had to go cross-eyed to look at her hand.

Finally, Robert found his voice. "I'm the love of your life?" He asked as she looked at her from behind, touching where her hands had been mere minutes ago.

"The…"

Diana slapped again, this time getting Goldman's other cheek, and snarled, "Robert is the most brilliant man in the world! He has twice the brains and five times the heart as you do, Goldman!" Diana put her glove back on tightly and let it slapped her wrist as she let go, still glaring at Goldman, and never flinching at the little sting.

This wasn't just a random act, or a scene made by a chiche writer. Dr. Goldman is not necessarily a bully, but a huge snot-nose jerk who is notorious for pointing out tiny flaws in people's work when he has bigger flaws in his own. Over the past month of Robert and Diana's courtship, he had teased, nagged, and riticuiled both the couple and Robert's work, just little bit here and there, and it all bottled up in Diana and finally exploded.

"Let me hear you insulting another man's work or say anything negative to another colleague and I'll do it again!" Diana threatened and marched off past Goldman and away from Robert.

Robert blinked as he watched her storm away and Goldman collectively walked on, taking advantage of the situation and avoiding to make an apology to him. The handsome doctor let her words replay in his head a million times.

 _"THAT'S for insulting the love of my life!"_

Robert made a goofy smile as he walked into his office to start cleaning and only thought of Diana. He was so lucky to have her by his side. Never before had he really paid much attention to girls, too focused on his studies, but now everything he ever wanted was right there! She was kind, intelligent, beautiful, and also strong and independent. She was no damsel in distress or dumb blonde. She was a deep person that he wanted to get to know even more about. He wanted to spend his whole life with her.

 _"I want to marry her."_ He thought to himself as he opened the broom-closet and he froze at what he just said to himself. He shook his head and changed his mind as he grabbed the broom. " _No, I am going to marry her."_

He then entertained himself by thinking of what ring she'd like, how much it would cost, and how much he had to spend as of that day.


	3. Artemis

The coffee pot squeezed out a few more drops of caffeine and the mother of the household reached the pot first; with four other adults in the house that needed coffee to function, it was first come, first serve. She tucked some dark-brown curls behind her hair to see her work cleary as she added some sugar to her travel-cup and put the spoon aside for her husband to use. He grabbed the pot, stealing a kiss on the cheek first, and filled his Superman-decorated cup with coffee and more creamer than the average man. He may be an accountant, but he knew how to have fun.

"Boys! Hurry up!" Cynthia called.

"We're coming, Mom!" One teenager yelled from upstairs.

The sound of a herd of elephants echoed throughout the house and three identical boys came down. All of them looked just like their mother: dark-brown curly hair and hazel eyes. One wore blue-jeans and an old Family Guy t-shirt, his hair greased and combed down to try to gain control over his short curls. One had the longest hair of them all, but not long enough to pull it back; he was growing it out for that. He wore ripped jeans and a flannel over a white t-shirt. The third one had this hair extremely short (he had buzzed it last week) and wore a high-school t-shirt and jeans. He grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl and rushed out the door.

"Be careful, Dale!" William yelled.

"Have a good day!" The wife called.

"Thanks, guys." The boy with the longest hair said and allowed his mother to kiss him goodbye.

"See ya guys at four!" The third one said with a wave and left with his brother.

"Love you!" Cynthia replied and the teenagers were gone.

A beat-up blue truck left the driveway as it started to drizzle again and Cynthia pulled out her phone to check the time.

"I should leave, too, sweetheart." William said and picked up his briefcase from the table. "You want me to stop by the store after work?"

"Thanks, Will." Cynthia said gratefully and looked at the calendar that hung on the fridge. "I'm going to visit Mom during my lunch break."

Will slowed down as he checked his case for all his necessities and looked at his wife. March Madness had it's meaning in this household; spring had not been a good season for the Newman family. Yes, their eldest daughter was about to graduate college, but Granny hasn't been doing well at all. It seemed like only yesterday that she nearly forgot her granddaughter was graduating high school, and now she was diagnosed with dementia. She was fragile, but hanging on.

Will's parents were still alive and well, but he knows how hard it's been for his wife. For years, it had always been the two of them, two strong women taking on the world together. Will left his things on the table and went to Cynthia. He took her by the waist and gently brought her close for a tender kiss. She kissed him back just as passionately and moved from his lips to his jawline. She then rested her head on his chest and held him close. Will gave her a reassuring squeeze and then Cynthia let go.

"We better get going." She said as she straightened her skirt.

William nodded with a smile and got his briefcase, opened the door for Cynthia, and locked it behind them. He took the grey SUV, she took the white P.T. Cruiser. Her tassels from high school and college dangled by her rear mirror and she waited for her husband to leave first. Once he was down the street, she left, too.

* * *

The clock on the computer screen read 3:04am. Dr. Cockroach sipped his coffee nervously and scrolled through. Susan yawned and drank her own coffee, sitting with her knees just below her neck, behind the brilliant bug. There was no rule that said monsters couldn't use the government's enormous supply of data, but they were sure Monger wouldn't be happy if he saw Ginormica and Dr. Cockroach using highly exclusive equipment.

However, once they had gotten back to headquarters it was already very late at night, and Susan was too hyped up on adrenaline and insisted they pull an all-nighter and keep going, so she made coffee while the genius hacked into the supercomputer. Now seated and warmed up with a hot caffeinated drink, Dr. Cockroach typed in his wife's name and began looking down the list of any female ever named the same in all of the history of the world, as far back as the 1700s.

Susan read the first name and smiled. "Diana?"

The doctor smiled a little at hearing her name and said, "Yes, I've always like the sound of her name. It's Roman, meaning 'divine' or 'heavenly'."

"Aw," Susan cooed as she cupped her mug with both hands. "That is so sweet."

"Alright, enough about my lovelife…"

"Oh, come on!" Susan said as she rolled her blue eyes. "That's the whole reason why we're doing this: to restore it!"

"Restore it, please." Dr. Cockroach snorted and continued to read on; he could not get rid of the tiny, flattered smile on his lips.

"So, how did you two meet, anyways?" Susan asked softly.

He knew he could avoid answering easily, but he found he didn't mind sharing with her. "Well, we both went to Boston University, but we didn't meet until we both worked at the same hospital; I got a job there to get some hands-on experience with the human body and she was a doctor, specializing in anyone below the age of eighteen."

"Aw." Susan repeated.

"Yes, yes, don't get all touchy-feely on me, madam." Dr. Cockroach said flatly and sorted the names by dates of birth, starting with newest to oldest. He scrolled down and found a driver's licence photo date of birth that matched perfectly with his wife's.

Susan watched the screen as Dr. Cockroach selected the female and her picture was enlarged and the others were removed, replaced with information on their Diana. Her date of birth, her occupation, location, it all lined up perfectly. Dr. Cockroach stared at the latest picture the government had of Diana.

Her hair was fully grey in the picture and she had a wrinkle or two under her eyes, but she didn't look that different, not really. He hair was still in curls, down and loose a little past her shoulders, and she still smiled like all was right with the world.

Susan looked at her picture and smiled. "She's beautiful."

Dr. Cockroach smiled as well and said quietly, "Yes, she is."

"And look!" Susan pointed at the locations list. "It looks like she's still in Boston!"

"According to these records she stayed at the Massachusetts General Hospital for several years until retiring in 2006." Dr. Cockroach observed. "She moved houses about six months… erm, she moved houses in the spring of 1963."

Susan guessed that she had moved six months after Doc's incident. She looked at the map and saw she had moved farther down south than the one Dr. Cockroach visited that day. Satellite pictures shows a newer neighborhood with smaller yards and smaller houses, but it still looked decent and the records read she still stayed in that house to this very day.

Dr. Cockroach wrote down the address in his notepad quickly and then went back to Diana's main page.

"This is so exciting!" Susan said as she drained her coffee mug. "Now that we actually know where she is, you can go see her! It looks like she never remarried, I told you she missed you! She'll be so happy to see you!"

Dr. Cockroach wasn't listening. He had scrolled down to read some more information, to see if anything else had changed, and found a link that stopped his heart.

"Doc?" Susan asked when she didn't even get a "calm down" comment from him. "Are you okay?" She looked up at the screen to try to see what he saw, but she didn't see anything that shook her world. "Is… everything okay?"

Dr. Cockroach sighed and moved the cursor down to the list of relatives and immediate family members. He hovered it over the first name. Susan read it and, at first, frowned that it wasn't the doctor's old name, but then gasped at what it read.

"Oh my God…" Susan breathed as she sat her mug down by her feet, rather risk dropping it and breaking it.

Dr. Cockroach clicked the name and it took him to another profile. Another female, but this one looked younger than Diana. She had dark-brown hair that made curls like Diana's, but she wore it pinned up in a bun, and smiled with sparkling hazel eyes. Susan looked down at Dr. Cockroach's matching eyes to find them huge and wet.

"She has a daughter." He muttered.

"No." Susan corrected and got on her knees and lowered her head to be next to her friend, unable to keep the little smile off of her lips. "You have a daughter."

Susan read her birthdate: June 4th, 1963. Ginormica couldn't remember the exact date the experiment went wrong, but she remembered it was in the fall of 1962. That lined up with things, but as Susan looked at her friend, it was clear he had no idea that this young woman even existed. His name had been erased from the records, but no father had been entered at all for this woman.

"Her name is Cynthia." Dr. Cockroach said in a low voice, still trying to process this.

"Did you know?" Susan asked, knowing the answer already.

"No." He breathed and leaned back in his chair, staring at Cynthia's picture. "We had tired for a long time to start a family, but we thought it was impossible, so we focused on our professions. I… it is possible, I just can't believe…" Dr. Cockroach held his head as his antennae drooped. "... after all this time..."

Susan wanted to hug him or pat his back, but knew better, so she tried to hug him with her words and tone. "I'm very sorry, Doc. I know it's a bit of a shock, but…" Susan couldn't help but smile. "Isn't this exciting? You have a daughter!"

The good doctor lifted his head and looked at the picture. She was the perfect blend of her parents: her mother's smile and hair shape, but her father's hair and eye color. He thought she looked more like her mother, but knew Diana would say she looked more like him. He smiled at just how perfect she was and reread her name.

"'Cynthia' was my idea." Dr. Cockroach said quietly. "While 'Diana' is a Roman goddess, the name 'Cynthia' comes from the mountain the Greek goddess was born on. She preferred a simpler name like 'Sarah' or 'Ruth', but she ob…" He faded off and smiled at her name. Such a small detail, but that must mean that Diana didn't completely hate him.

"Looks like she didn't let you win it all, Doc." Susan giggled as she read that Cynthia's middle name was Ruth.

The records showed that her name at birth was Cynthia Ruth Jefferson, but changed in 1985 when she married a man named William Newman, an accountant. On the list of relative was, of course, Diana as her mother, but it looked like Cynthia had four children.

"You're a grandpa?!" Susan gasped, reading the list of names.

"I am?"

The first name was a girl name Jade, born three years after Cynthia and William's marriage. Three more names had the same birthdate, just five years after Jade's.

"I am."

"She had triplets." Susan started with a smile and read the names. "Daniel, David, and Dale. Wow, four kids… four grandchildren!"

"It looks like they're all grown up." Dr. Cockroach said gloomily.

Susan looked down at him and left a wave of pity hit her so strong that it made her eyes sting, but not yet tear up. He missed so much over the last fifty years… he missed his own daughter's birth, her first words, steps and birthday. He missed her first day of school, her high school graduation, her college graduation, her wedding, the birth of her children. He missed spoiling the grandkids alongside his wife. He didn't get a chance to share his knowledge with any of them. He missed so much of their lives, and here it was, all written out in front of him.

"Yeah," Susan said quietly. "Yeah, they have, but think how excited they'll be to meet their long-lost grandpa."

"Don't!" Dr. Cockroach said loudly, making Susan jump a little. He clang onto the arms of the chair and said in a calmer voice. "Don't assume… they…"

"I know, I know." Susan said, shaking her head. "But, look! They're there, and you're free to see them! I know you're nervous, but at least you can have some answers. And I know how much you love to find those."

Dr. Cockroach looked at the driver's licence photos of his grandchildren. The triplets looked nearly identical and were very much like their mother. Jade looked a lot like her father, except she had Diana's blue eyes. He wondered what they were like, what their likes and dislikes were, what they wanted to do for a career, their personality. He wanted to meet them, get to know them, and his daughter…

The record said she got a Doctoral Degree at Boston University and worked as a psychologist. So, she was a wife, a mother, and a doctor. But what was she like? Was she kind and helpful like her mother? Determined and stubborn like her father? Dr. Cockroach found he desperately wanted to meet her and be a part of her life. Even if she didn't want to even know him, he decided it was worth the risk.

"Alright," He sighed and turned to Susan. "Let's try and get some form of rest, and we'll leave for Boston in the morning."

"Rest?" Susan laughed and stood up. "No way! You can try, but I'm gonna get another cup of coffee and do some more research! I wouldn't be able to sleep even if I tried! I mean, this is just so…"

"Exciting?" Dr. Cockroach guessed as he got up from the chair. "So you've told me."

He smiled a true-blue smile and walked by her, taking his mug with him. With her eyes wide and hands shaking, Susan looked at the screen and carefully clicked on Jade's name to learn more about her; she had to be gentle given the fact that the touch-pad was about the size of the top half of her pointer finger.

Dr. Cockroach left the room and his thoughts reverted back to his newly-discovered family. He knew most men would freak out once they found out they were fathers, but many, like him, were overstatic. Now that the shock had worn off, he found himself unable to stop smiling as he headed to his living space.

A daughter… he had a daughter…

Once again, Dr. Cockroach was as unusual as unusual could get, for not only did he learn he was a father, but a grandfather! And his grandchildren aren't children anymore, so maybe some day he'd live to meet his great-grandchildren. He shook his head and tried to keep himself from getting carried away.

Adrenaline pumping through his veins and his heart racing, he desperately wanted to meet them all. It wasn't like at the supercomputer where it was a plea, now it was a demand. He needed to meet his family.

Suddenly, the old nostalgic, brain-twisting, maddening need to escape headquarters had returned, and the idea of sleep was out of the question. He turned around and rejoined Susan.

* * *

The nurse sat the covered plate on the fold-in table. The old woman with curled white hair and too many wrinkled to count had a sweet smile on her face.

"Ms. Jefferson," the nurse said sweetly, excited for her patient. "I've got something special for you today."

She lifted the plastic cover like she was a waiter at a five-star restaurant and revealed corn, mashed potatoes, and a plain chicken breast.

The old woman gasped and smiled like a child at Christmas. "Chicken!" She said weekly, but happily. "I can't remember the last time I had chicken!"

The nurse went into the dining room to talk to Cynthia, who had been watching her mother for a minute or so.

"She had chicken yesterday." The nurse said, watching Ms. Jefferson pick up her fork and try to use it two-handed. "For lunch and dinner."

The tiny sile still on Cynthia's face was gone. "Are you serious?" She looked back out at her mother and said, "I don't know if she should have the same thing every meal."

The nurse touched her forearm and gave her a reassuring smile. "Can you think of anything else that's gonna make her that happy?"

She left Cynthia alone to clean the kitchen and the daughter watched her mother eat a piece of chicken carefully, grinning from ear to ear.

Cynthia sat down next to her mom and watched her eat. Ms. Jefferson happily struggled with her corn for a while until she put her fork down and looked at her daughter.

"Hello. You're new here, aren't you?"

Cynthia's heart broke. "Mom, it's Cynthia. Your daughter?"

Ms. Jefferson's face dropped in confusion. She could tell she had hurt this woman and she began to stutter and try to remember. "Cynthia… I'm… I'm sorry I don't…"

She grabbed her mom's hand. "It's okay. Really."

Ms. Jefferson smiled and looked down at her hand as Cynthia petted it. A gold wedding ring barely hung onto finger and she frowned at it, trying to remember who had the other ring.

"Who… who did I…"

Cynthia looked down at the wedding ring and tried to think of what to say. She had never met her father. He was gone before she was even born, but her mother had never told her he ran away. She always gave the impression that he was dead, but she didn't talk about it much. What was Cynthia supposed to say?

"It's complicated." She simply stated and then tried to change the subject. "Are you having a good day?"

Ms. Jefferson smiled. "Yes, are you?"

Cynthia nodded as she let go of her hand. "Now that I'm here with you."

Ms. Jefferson smiled and looked at her lunch. She used her fork to scoop up some corn with a shaking hand and started to guide it to Cynthia's mouth. Not hungry, but not wanting to disappoint her mom, she opened her mouth and ate some corn. It satisfied Ms. Jefferson and she continued to feed herself.


	4. Alone Together

Susan sat by Butterfly-a-saurus with a small frown. She was getting tired of being left outside of Boston to just sit and wait, but logic and reason kept her there. She didn't want to leave, but Doc was right; she had no business trying to navigate through the sandwiched city. She sighed and let her mad expression go.

"Fine," Susan said. "But if you need any help, or reassurance, or… anything, call me, okay?"

Dr. Cockroach paused at putting his fedora and looked up at his friend. As nervous as he was, it suddenly dawned on him how much she was doing for him. If it wasn't for Ginormica pushing him so hard, the good doctor would have never even known he had a family out there.

He held his hat in front of him and looked up at her. "Susan, I never really thanked you for all you're doing to help me, so… well, thank you."

Susan was taken back for a moment, but then smiled. "I'm happy to do whatever I can to help you. You did the same for me once."

Dr. Cockroach laughed and said, "I remember. I remember when I first saw you, I knew you had to be terrified."

Susan shrugged and cringed at the same time, remembering her first day in prison, as well. She, in her opinion, felt she had over-exaggerated now that she knew just how scary the whole thing was. It was almost like looking back at a stupid thing she said in kindergarten: naive and embarrassing.

"I… was."

"When I first arrived," Dr. Cockroach began to explain. "All I had was a giant grub, a fish-man with a huge ego, and my failure hanging over my shoulders to help me cope."

Susan wasn't sure if it was meant to be a joke or not, so she settled for given a small smile and letting her friend talk.

"I wanted to make sure it didn't take you years to adjust fully, that you knew you had friends beside you." Dr. Cockroach shrugged and looked down at the hat in his hands, messing with the rim. "Seems like you figured that out relatively quickly."

"I wouldn't have without you." Susan said and patted the doctor gently on the head. His antennae drooped beneath the giant woman's palm and his knees buckled slightly, but it was a gentle, king, harmless gesture. "And I know I've been hyperactive this whole time, but it's only because I'm so happy for you. You deserve everything good that comes your way, and I want you to have that."

Dr. Cockroach looked back up at his friend to smile back at her. He nodded and said, "Thank you."

He put his fedora back on and turned around, looking out at Boston and the road he had to walk down to get there. He took his first step and started to leave the female monsters behind. The road winded and twisted away from the little hill they sat on, and when he turned back to catch another glace, Susan waved to him. Dr. Cockroach waved back and checked that his collar was popped-up and straight as he started to walk again.

Butterfly-a-saurus was laying on her side and napping from the minute she landed on Massechutess land. Susan heard her peaceful, deep breathing and chuckled under her breath. She began to nod off, and decided that a quick nap wouldn't hurt her.

* * *

Cynthia walked down the hall to her office and pasted by the secretary.

"Mrs. Newman, your next patient is already in your room."

Cynthia nodded and checked the clipboard on the front desk. "Right. Mr. Murphy. Two o'clock. And I'm not scheduled for anymore clients today, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you, Mary." Cynthia said and put the board down.

She walked down three doors and found her name on one of them. She opened it and first saw her desk, as usual, in front of her huge bookshelf. To the right, was a big window with a nice view of Boston, a couch, and an armchair. Sitting on the couch, head low and hands entangled, was a man wearing a trench coat with his collar popped up and a fedora low on his head.

When the doctor first heard the door open, he lifted his eyes up as much as he risked to look at his daughter. She looked so much like him when he was a human, but he could tell she had her mother's spirit. Her smile matched her mother's, but she had hazel eyes like his and dark hair like his. It bounced in tight curls, which were pinned up in a loose bun. She was beautiful and perfect, and his heart thumped loudly against his chest, it rang in his ears. He lowered his head just enough to hide his face.

Now, this wasn't the first time a patient had hidden themselves like this. Teenagers come in with lowered hoods, some adults with hats or coats. Cynthia was flexible and knew, with time, this one would come to show his face, just like the others had. As a psychologists, she looked for the little things in people; she noticed how this man (she assumed was a man, not a woman) held his hands together, a good guess that he would not want to shake hands with her, so she did not offer the gesture, instead settled on greeting him with a kind voice and listening ears.

"Welcome, Mr. Murphy." Dr. Newman said as she sat down in the armchair. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm very well, madam." The man said in a low voice. (Yes, definitely a man.) "How are you?"

Cynthia now also knew that though his stranger is shy, hidden, and secretive, he is also polite. He's not just a trouble soul, but one with a heart. She smiled and said honestly,

"Just fine, sir, thank you." She clicked her pen and looked at the man (or rather his hat). "So, let's get right into it; what would you like to talk about?"

What did he want to talk about? Speaking only the truth, he wanted to talk about Cynthia. He wanted to talk about her life, her likes and dislikes, how she met her husband. He wanted to talk about his grandchildren and what they were like. He wanted to talk about Diana. But, of course, he couldn't say that, so he racked his brain on what to answer instead.

"What should we talk about?"

Dr. Newman smiled and dismissed the question as nervousness, perhaps a fear of messing the first session up. "Whatever you wish. This is a safe place, you can say whatever you want to here."

Oh, if only he could. He felt like a child confused about how to play chess, and it was his turn to move. Luckily his opponent appeared to be very patient and kind, so he took his time to lower his chances of ruining everything.

Dr. Newman cleared her throat to try to do so with the air. "How about the weather? Very rainy for May, isn't it?"

"I'm relatively new here." The man said. "I assumed it was a Boston thing."

Cynthia laughed. "We do get a lot of rain in the spring, but you should see the fall! The colors are beautiful and the park is breathtaking."

Dr. Cockroach smiled at hearing his daughter laugh for the first time. He'd give his life to hear it again.

"I've always loved the park." He admitted quietly. He hesitated, but then decided to add, "My wife and I, we would roam the park and talk for hours. It felt like it was just me and her alone in the world."

Cynthia wrote something down on her clipboard, but she was smiling nevertheless. "That's very nice. Do you continue to do so?"

Dr. Newman was clever enough to guess that the wife was no longer in the picture, by the tone of his voice or the words he used, but she had to ask to get her patient to say it. He may be in denial of a horrible death. She had to get the man to tell her the problem, not solely rely on her detective skills.

The fedora turned side to side as the man's head shook. "No, not for years. She's… she's gone…"

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Murphy." Cynthia said honestly. "It can be very difficult to move on when you've lost someone, especially someone so close to you. Losing a spouse is different than losing anyone else and it can feel like you've lost everything."

Dr. Cockroach nodded carefully as to not show his face. He was beyond proud at how wise and intelligent his daughter was.

"I miss her." He said quietly. "I'm… lonely."

Cynthia nodded. "Do you have any other family, sir?"

The man shook his head again.

Dr. Newman felt incredibly sorry for this man, but kept her composure. "Such an event in life can make it seem like you've disconnect with the world, and that it is impossible to fix it. My job is to help you see that it can be done."

Dr. Cockroach didn't want to talk; he wanted his daughter to talk, but she was waiting for him to speak next. He then decided to try to get her to talk about herself. He wasn't sure if she would, but he could try.

"Have… have you ever lost someone?"

Dr. Newman was not surprised he asked this. People are always looking for people who understand them. They may be quick to label them as incapable of understanding, but they'll keep searching for someone that may have the slightest idea of what they're going through. She decided that she could talk about her own experiences to prove that this man was not alone.

"Sort of." Cynthia admitted. "My father was gone before I was born. Mom always spoke very highly of him, and it hurt every once and awhile. I felt confused, mostly because I didn't understand that it was capable to miss someone you had never even met."

His throat was tight. The turtleneck was never usually an issue, but now he blamed it for the tight feeling at his neck. He couldn't adjust it, in risk of lowering his coat too much and showing his true identity, so he only swallowed as settily as he could and continued to listen.

"But I still had Mom," Cynthia said and smiled, thinking of her childhood. "And we always had fun together. We used to go to the store, by a ton of ice-cream and junk food, come home, and make 'Mad Sundaes'." She told with a laugh, thinking of a specific time in which her mother sprayed whipped cream on Cynthia's nose.

"That sounds like fun." The man said in a muffled voice.

"It was." Cynthia admitted happily. "We'd go to the park and play every Saturday. Mom was my number one cheerleader and helped keep our little family together." Her smile faded at the thought of her mother's condition now, but went on with her tale. "I eventually move out for college and got married, but we still remained close. Now I have a big family and I know it wouldn't have been possible without her."

Dr. Cockroach wanted to know more about his grandchildren. "You have children?"

Dr. Newman nodded and gestured to a family photo on her desk. "I do indeed. My eldest, Jade, and my wild boys, David, Daniel and Dave."

Dr. Cockroach looked at the picture and saw the family all wearing some form of grey. The women wore grey dresses and the men grey sweaters-vests, but each man wore a different colored undershirt and the women's dresses were different. Cynthia's was tight and long-sleeved, while Jade's was loose and short-sleeve. Will wore black, Daniel wore navy-blue, David wore crimson-red, and Dale wore emerald-green.

"You have a wonderful family, madam." Dr. Cockroach said, still staring at their shared family.

"Thank you, Mr. Murphy." Cynthia said sweetly. "Dale - the one in green - is an athlete and has played soccer, baseball, football, and even joined a swimming and bowling team at one point. Daniel - the one wearing blue - actually won a scholarship to go to Florida and study oceanology. He's hoping to work on rebuilding coral reefs and cut down on pollution. And David - the long-haired boy in red - is the trooper in the family. He barely made it in the incu, but managed to pull through and now wants to be an artist. I have one of his paintings there."

She pointed to a portrait of herself on the wall behind her, in front of her patient, and Dr. Cockroach observed how detailed and good it was for a man not yet out of high school.

"Very impressive, madam." The man complimented. "And… I'm very sorry about your father."

It was true. Dr. Cockroach was immensely sorry.

Cynthia shrugged. It had been awhile since she's thought of him, not since her mother asked who she had married. She wasn't mad, but there were too many unanswered questions.

"Like I said, Mom spoke very highly of him." She said. "She told me he was a scientist and often performed his own experiments. She never could tell me what happened to him, but…" She wondered if it was safe to tell this stranger the next part. Yes, why not? "I've often guessed that he was killed through his studies."

"And… what did he study?"

It took Cynthia a moment to remember what he actually studied. They met at a hospital, but he wasn't a normal doctor. He didn't practice medical treatments necessarily. What was it…?

"I think it was human biology." Cynthia said slowly. "He… he was worried about a nuclear war destroying everything. He might have been studying radiation, but… I don't know for sure…"

 _Do it now. Before she can change the subject._

"You're right." The man said.

Cynthia looked at the man and was surprised for the first time this entire therapy session. Odd, that he would confirm that Cynthia's father, a man neither of them had ever met, was a scientist that was taken down by his own research. Perhaps he was just agreeing with her, but the tone in his voice was so sure…

"He was afraid of losing everything in one fell-swoop." The man added. "He was afraid of everyone he loved being destroyed, so he tried to find a way to make it indestructible. He wanted to find a loophole in a world where everything was so unsure and secretive, and in the process, he destroyed everything."

Such bold talk from someone so quiet and shy. His voice was still small and unconfident, but his choice of words were peculiar and Cynthia tried to handle this the best way possible.

"I wouldn't say he destroyed everything." She said carefully.

"I'd say so." The man said flatly. "He left his family behind and was blinded by his intelligence and over-confidence."

"Now, hold on, sir." Cynthia said firmly to make the man stop insulting his father like that. "My father made a mistake. He didn't run away or abandon his family, he tried to help us. People make mistakes all the time, what we must chose is how we react to them."

Maybe that was it! Did the wife commit suicide and this man was having trouble forgiving her? Or did someone else gravely wrong this man? It became clearer that this man struggled with forgiveness, and if demonstrating it was the best way to show him how, so be it.

"And what did you chose?" The man asked in a cracked voice.

"I chose to forgive him." Cynthia answered. "No matter what happened to him, he's still my father, and I love him."

The man held his head and his shoulders moved up and down, like he was taking longer, deeper breaths. Cynthia leaned over in her chair, ready to start rubbing his back in necessary.

"I'm… very glad… I'm really happy to hear you say that, my dear." He said thickly.

He lifted his head and was level with a big pair of hazel eyes that matched her own perfectly. Her mouth opened as she saw the man's eyes were filled with tears, but they looked so much like her's! It was unsettling, she shouldn't dare to hope. And yet…

Dr. Cockroach only stared back at her. How much could she see? Whatever she saw, it was not enough to make her scream or run, not even dart her eyes to the nearest phone to call the police if needed. His heart was hammering now and his eyes stinged like chlorine was in them, but he needed to keep going. He needed her to know that he loved her. He was ready to move his hand up to his hat, but Cynthia acted first.

"Dad?"

What should he do next? Should he say it, take off his disguise, deny it and run? With his throat too tight to speak and wanting nothing more than for her to know, he nodded.

Cynthia only blinked to reveal hazel eyes with tears; now their eyes were truly matching. She reached for his hand and grabbed it. His skin was rough, but warm. She looked down at it to find it red and hard. Had he experienced a horrible burn? It looked like it. Cynthia rubbed the top of his hand with her thumb and looked back up at him. His eyes were locked on their hands.

"Dad."

He sighed and lifted his free hand to his hat. He pulled it away.

Cynthia's eyes widen, but she held her breath. She hardly moved, like a statue. Ironically, this did not ease Dr. Cockroach's nerves. He was stunned that she didn't run or scream or… anything! Not doing anything was almost as scary as doing something. He wondered if he had caused his daughter to go into shock.

Cynthia then blinked, breathed, and let go of Dr. Cockroach's hand. She didn't jerk it away, but merely let go to stand up. His heart skipped a beat, afraid she'd run away or for the phone to call for help, but no. Instead she walked to the blinds of the wall-sized window behind her father and closed the blinds on his right, hiding the view of the city. She then crossed by the couch and closed the other half of the blinds.

The room was now very dark, apart from a glowing lamp from the desk and the sunlight that crept in through the cracks. Did she not want to look at him?

Dr. Cockroach never took his eyes off his daughter. He watched her come to his left-side, sit down, and look down at her hands, which were trembling. He didn't know want to do. He only looked at her, waiting for what she would chose to do. Cynthia's bottom lip quivered, and then she hugged her long-lost father tightly like her life depended on it.

Her hands grabbed his trench-coat. She buried her face into his shoulder, breathing in his scent and feeling his heartbeat against her chest. A single tear fell onto his clothing and did not reach his thick skin.

He was beyond blessed. He was passed shocked. He hugged her daughter back and laid one hand on her curls and the other by her shoulders. He closed his eyes and felt like it was just the two of them, alone in the world together.


End file.
